Groundation has always had a unique relationship with Gravity. An ability to make us feel it particularly on a pachydermic riddim, the better to free us from it with blasts of brass and vocal cords. Goldsmith's work that continues with "Building an Ark". A motionless journey in 10 tracks that invites reflection as much as contemplation. With this ark as its banner, which represents, like the Ark of the Covenant, a rallying point and a place of safety. A natural gathering (like the shell on the sleeve) around their music, in short.
This "Building an Ark" thus follows the same paths as the previous efforts, but with a certain emphasis on the voices. That of Harrison, who has armed himself with new gimmicks, but also those of Kim and Kerry, the two backing singers who arrived in 2005. They finally bring their grain of sand to the Groundation edifice and even take the lion's share on Payaka way or Keep it up. A deliberate choice which also proves that the band is not reduced to the lead vocal or to star guests, who are precisely absent from the opus. Each member of the band still allows himself a definite propensity for exceptional solos. David Chachere's wild brass and Marcus Urani's twists and turns on the organ seem even more controlled and stretched than before.
More mature, thoughtful but still revolutionary, the lyrics are in the image of the recording process (analogue recording then digital mixing). This supernatural sound that makes them unique is mastered, extensible at will, and becomes prophecy when it marries Stafford's voice. Hence the sort of mystical aura that floats around them. Ever exploring, the Californians jazz up their own recipe a little more to offer an unheard-of exercise in style, in the first sense of the term. Building an Ark and Be that Way show it: risk-taking is the mark of the greats.
